Will U.S., the World’s Largest Arms Manufacturer, Back Landmark U.N. Arms Trade Treaty?
Labels: Atrios, corporate military industrial government complex, Democracy Now, U.S. arms sales, U.S. interests
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posted by profmarcus at
7/03/2012
THE ONE TRUE WANKER OF THE DECADE
Tom Friedman.
He fetishizes a false "centrism" which is basically whatever Tom Friedman likes, imagining the Friedman agenda is both incredibly popular in the country and lacking any support from our current politicians, when in fact the opposite is usually true. Washington worships at the altar of the agenda of false centrism, and people often hate it. Problems abroad, even ones which really have nothing to do with us, should be solved by war, and problems at home should be solved by increasing the suffering of poor and middle class people. Even though one political party is pretty much implementing, or trying to implement, 99.999999% of the Friedman agenda, what we really need is a third party catering precisely to this silent majority of Friedmanites.
Truly great wankers possess a kind of glib narcissism, the belief that everything is about them while simultaneously disavowing any responsibility for anything. The important thing about an issue is whether it proves Tom Friedman fucking right, but if it doesn't we can just move on to the next big thing that will prove Tom Friedman fucking right. If you advocate for wars that go a bit bad, well, it's not your fault. If only Tom Friedman had been in charge everything would have been great.
Such wankers are impervious to criticism because they're always doing battle with straw critics. They never remember what they said last week, and assume you won't either.
Labels: Atrios, buffoons, Eschaton, Tom Friedman, wankers
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
4/19/2012
Federal investigators examining the final days at MF Global and how customer money went missing are poring over scores of wire transfers in and out of the brokerage firm, including the possible movement of $325 million that may have belonged to customers, according to people briefed on the matter.
The suspicious transfer, which until now has not been made public, was first discovered in the early hours of Oct. 31, the day the firm filed for bankruptcy. Initially, the firm attributed a shortfall of more than $1 billion in customer money to an “accounting error,” records show. But after hours of searching, executives acknowledged to regulators in the firm’s offices in Chicago that the shortfall was real — and may have been caused in part by the $325 million transfer, said one of the people briefed on the matter.
It remains unclear where that money went, or even if it belonged to customers. But it is one of many significant wire transfers that federal authorities — including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation — have spent months reviewing to piece together MF Global’s final days.
When a billion bucks or so goes "missing" it isn't due to complexity, or accounting errors, or those crazy moments right before the firm went bankrupt. It's theft. The money was stolen from customers and then given to somebody else. Precisely why, by who, and to whom are questions that should be answered, but the underlying issue shouldn't be obscured. People were robbed. [emphases added]
Labels: Atrios, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, criminal bankers, Eschaton, FBI, John Corzine, MF Global, thievery
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
2/28/2012
Across the country, big banks and other large investors are buying up tens of thousands of foreclosed rental properties. They're not always model landlords, according to tenants and regulators. Some banks are failing to follow local and state housing codes, leaving tenants to live in squalor — without even a number to call in the most dire situations.
[...]
That's difficult even when there is a property manager. Luz Escamilla in Hyattsville, Md., says she sleeps with the lights on, "waiting for the bugs to come up." Her place is infested. There are chocolate-colored blotches all over her walls; it's the blood of bedbugs she has killed. [Note: the blood isn't "the blood of bedbugs," it's the blood of Luz Escamilla that has been ingested by the bedbugs.]
[...]
[Anne] Norton, the Maryland bank regulator, says it's often more challenging to take a bank to court than a mom-and-pop landlord.
"Due to disproportional bargaining rights between tenants and the parties that are the investors, tenants feel that they don't have a voice and also don't have rights," Norton says.
States are at a loss, too. They aren't sure how to make banks comply with their housing codes. Norton and nine other regulators are now drafting guidelines to help states crack down.
Labels: Atrios, criminal banks, elites, Eschaton, foreclosures, housing market, Human rights, super-rich, tenants' rights
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
2/23/2012
The New York Times is perhaps a commendable jobs program for special needs people.
posted by profmarcus at
10/13/2011
Afternoon Thread
Junk shot edition.
Labels: Atrios, junk shot, smiles
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
6/12/2011
The amazing thing about the banksters is that despite all we've done for them, and continue to do, many of them are still probably basically insolvent.
I wouldn't be repeating myself so much on what the administration has done wrong if they'd signal some way forward. They haven't.
Treasury has done nothing, the OCC has done nothing. There is no accountability for the rich and powerful whatsoever.
All the banksters are utterly corrupt, including the ones we partially own, the regulators don't know anything and don't care, and this is the system Treasury has put its faith in.
Labels: accountability, Atrios, banksters, bloggers, corruption, elites, Maxine Waters, Obama administration, OCC, super-rich, U.S. Treasury
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
11/19/2010
Labels: Atrios, capitalism, elites, Google, greed, internet neutrality, peasant class, profiteers, Sam Seder, super-rich, Verizon
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
8/13/2010
It's not difficult to foresee, as Atrios predicted, that media "coverage of [the] latest [leak] will be about whether or not it should have been published," rather than about what these documents reveal about the war effort and the government and military leaders prosecuting it.
Assange told reporters in London that what's been reported so far on the leaked documents has "only scratched the surface" and said some 15,000 files on Afghanistan are still being vetted by his organization.
He said he believed that "thousands" of U.S. attacks in Afghanistan could be investigated for evidence of war crimes, although he acknowledged that such claims would have to be tested in court.
"It is up to a court to decide really if something in the end is a crime," he said.
The United States has condemned as "irresponsible" the leak of 90,000 military records, saying publication could threaten national security.
Labels: Afghanistan, Atrios, Glenn Greenwald, Julian Assange, war crimes, whistleblowers, Wikileaks
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
7/26/2010
One person who received a call from the Goldman chief said he was told the regulator’s case against the bank was politically motivated and would ultimately “hurt America”. […]
“He was very aggressive,” said one person called by Mr Blankfein on Wednesday. “He feels that the government is out to kill them, that they are under attack and the whole thing is totally political.”
Mr Blankfein said the SEC action “hurts America”, this person said.
While Goldman Sachs' lawyers negotiated with the Securities and Exchange Commission over potentially explosive civil fraud charges, Goldman's chief executive visited the White House at least four times.
White House logs show that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein traveled to Washington for at least two events with President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential campaign received $994,795 in donations from Goldman's political action committee, its employees and their relatives. He also met twice with Obama's top economic adviser, Larry Summers.
Labels: Atrios, elites, financial coup d’etat, Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, Securities Exchange Commission, super-rich, Wall Street
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
4/22/2010
Labels: Afghanistan, Atrios, blogosphere, Kabul
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
4/13/2009
Labels: Atrios, New York Times, recession, unemployment
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
3/23/2009
A Cunning Plan
John Cole sums it up pretty well:
- The Illness- reckless and irresponsible betting led to huge losses
The Diagnosis- Insufficient gambling.
The Cure- a Trillion dollar stack of chips provided by the house.
The Prognosis- We are so screwed.
Labels: Atrios, bailout, economic collapse, Federal Reserve System, financial meltdown, financial services industry, Treasury Department
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
3/21/2009
Labels: Atrios, bank failures, banking crisis, economic collapse, FDIC
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
8/23/2008
Labels: Atrios, blogosphere
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
5/25/2008
Labels: Atrios, Matt Yglesias, middle class, Pew Research Study, The Atlantic
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
4/10/2008
Fed Chief Talks of 'Decisive' Action
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday signaled that the central bank will cut interest rates aggressively to try to prevent a serious economic downturn, using unusually direct and forceful language.
Bernanke's ... basically saying that things suck but don't worry 'cause he's warming up the helicopter.
"The backdrop here is the Fed is worried that the economy could be sliding into a recession," said Bruce C. Kasman, chief economist at J.P. Morgan Chase.
Labels: Atrios, Ben Bernanke, economy, Federal Reserve System, J.P. Morgan, recession
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/11/2008
from the wapo...In the four months since Clinton officially became a candidate, [Mark J. Penn] has consolidated his power, according to advisers close to the campaign, taking increasing control of the operation. Armed with voluminous data that he collects through his private polling firm, Penn has become involved in virtually every move Clinton makes, with the result that the campaign reflects the chief strategist as much as the candidate.
If Clinton seems cautious, it may be because Penn has made caution a science, repeatedly testing issues to determine which ones are safe and widely agreed upon (he was part of the team that encouraged Clinton's husband to run on the issue of school uniforms in 1996).
If Clinton sounds middle-of-the-road, it may be because Penn is a longtime pollster for the centrist Democratic Leadership Council whose clients have included Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).
If Clinton resembles a Washington insider with close ties to the party's biggest donors, it may be because her lead strategist is a wealthy chief executive who heads a giant public relations firm, where he personally hones Microsoft's image in Washington.
And if some opponents see Clinton as arrogant, her campaign a coronation rather than a grass-roots movement, it may be because of the numbers wizard guiding her campaign and the PowerPoint presentations he likes to give on the inevitability of his candidate.
markos, atrios, david sirota, and many other bloggers working feverishly for the grassroots/netroots/unwashed masses have cited case after case of the stupendously arrogant, elitist, inside-the-beltway, dlc-anointed, democratic campaign consultants that are so pathetically out of touch with the real democratic/progressive base... today's wapo offers up the quintessential profile of one of those very folks, and then tries to make it look like hillary is passively acquiescent while he calls all the shots... i say bullshit... he's there because she wants him there... the first part of the article talks about how gore fired him from his 2000 campaign for all of the same reasons hillary apparently wants him...
fine, hillary,,, you're the candidate... you're the one that wants to be president... you choose the campaign staff you want... just don't come calling on me to vote for you...
p.s. penn's firm, penn, schoen & burland, is owned by burson-marsteller, and guess who's burson's ceo...? and guess what's featured on burson's home page...?
Burson-Marsteller CEO Mark Penn discusses the Internet's affect on U.S. campaign politics on Council of PR Firms' podcast [mp3]
from penn's burson-marsteller bio...Mark Penn is worldwide CEO of Burson-Marsteller and President of Penn, Schoen and Berland. As CEO of Burson-Marsteller, Mr. Penn oversees a global network of 94 offices and 1600 employees that brings world-class public relations to companies around the world. As President of PSB, a position he has held since 1975 when he was an undergraduate at Harvard, Mr. Penn focuses on providing research-based communications strategy to political figures, corporations and crisis situations.
Mr. Penn has been called "Master of the Message" by Time Magazine; "The king of polls" by the London Times; and an "incandescent intellect" by the New York Times. On his wall are notes saying "you were brilliant" from Tony Blair after his historic third win and "thanks" from Bill Clinton after his impeachment acquittal along with photos of Penn working with CEOs including Bill Gates and Bill Ford, Jr. The Washington Post, in "Politics and Policy by the Numbers" summed up his influence in the White House and the corporate boardroom as a "unique vantage point: adviser to the preeminent innovator of the past decade in the realm of politics, Bill Clinton, and the preeminent innovator in the realm of business and technology, Bill Gates."
just the kind of guy to be advising hillary about how to relate to the electorate in the 2008 campaign, the most critical presidential election in the history of the united states...
Labels: 2000 election, 2008 Election, Al Gore, Atrios, Bill Clinton, Burson-Marsteller, David Sirota, DLC, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Mark Penn, Markos Moulitsas, Microsoft
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
12/04/2007
Bad Words
I love civility lessons from Mr. "We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!"
-Atrios 12:56
Rove, civility arbiter
by kos
Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 10:39:39 AM PST
So Rove hates us.
He also claimed that liberals use more “bad words,” comparing sites like DailyKos and Democratic Underground to Townhall and FreeRepublic. The “netroots often argue from anger rather than reason, and too often, their object is personal release, not political persuasion,” said Rove.
"Bad words" like this?
We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!
Labels: Atrios, bloggers, blogosphere, civility, Daily Kos, Karl Rove
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
11/09/2007
On May 19, 2004, General Ricardo Sanchez testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Iraq Prison Abuse.U.S. SENATOR JACK REED (D-RI): General Sanchez, today's USA Today, sir, reported that you ordered or approved the use of sleep deprivation, intimidation by guard dogs, excessive noise and inducing fear as an interrogation method for a prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison.
REED: Is that correct?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ : Sir, that may be correct that it's in a news article, but I never approved any of those measures to be used within CJTF-7 at any time in the last year.
Labels: Americablog, Atrios, blogosphere, Bush Administration, Daily Kos, Iraq, Juan Cole, media, new media, news context, Progressives, Ricardo Sanchez, Think Progress, Washington Post
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
10/14/2007
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